The ongoing conflict in Ukraine can only be resolved by conversation and diplomacy, according to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin today, the government stated.
The two presidents had a phone conversation.
In the meantime, the Russian side said in their statement that Vladimir Putin “provided fundamental assessments of Russia’s policy on the direction of Ukraine at Narendra Modi’s request.”
The two leaders also discussed a number of aspects of their bilateral relationship, including energy cooperation, trade and investments, defence and security cooperation, and other crucial areas, following their meeting in Samarkand on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit.
The Prime Minister also gave President Putin an update on India’s current G-20 Presidency, emphasising its top goals.
The PM’s office issued a press release that stated, “He also looked forward to both nations cooperating under India’s Chairship of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.”
The leaders decided to communicate frequently going forward.
The West praised PM Modi for saying that “today’s era is not of war” earlier in his message to Russia in an effort to defuse tensions. The West viewed this as a “public rebuke” to Russia.
The G20 summit leaders who assembled in Bali, Indonesia, last month made a statement that included a reference to the PM’s anti-war stance.
However, Russia had claimed that the West was picking and choosing from India’s position while remaining silent on issues that put them in a difficult position, such as India’s dramatic increase in crude oil imports from Russia despite repeated requests from the West and Ukraine.
The words, according to Denis Alipov, the Russian ambassador to India, have been in line with India’s stance on the matter.
He has claimed, “The West merely uses those quotes that suit them while ignoring other sections.”
Last week, S. Jaishankar, the minister of external affairs, claimed that India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken on the role of the “voice of the world,” particularly of poor nations, in calling for a swift resolution of the conflict in Ukraine through dialogue and diplomacy.
He added that one of the nations with which all sides are exchanging viewpoints is India.
Dmytro Kuleba, the foreign minister of Ukraine, criticised India for importing cheap Russian oil last week in an exclusive interview with NDTV, calling it “morally inappropriate.”
According to him, the low price at which India can purchase Russian oil is due to the daily deaths and suffering of Ukrainians as a result of Russian aggression.
When questioned about his thoughts on Mr. Jaishankar’s comparison of Russia’s oil imports to those of Europe, stating that “what India imports is a fraction of what the European nations import,” he said that it was “absolutely false.It is completely wrong to explain the purchase of oil from Russia by the argument that Europeans are doing the same. I think it is morally inappropriate because you are buying cheap oil not because of Europeans but because of us, of our suffering, of our tragedy, and because of the war that Russia launched against Ukraine,” he had said.
A week after it was announced that PM Modi would probably not go to Russia for the yearly India-Russia summit this year, PM had a phone chat with President Putin. It was Russia’s turn to host the summit this year after India hosted the previous gathering in December of last year, during which Russian President Vladimir Putin paid a six-hour visit to India.
But as the year draws to a close, Russia has not yet requested a summit and no dates have been set for the invasion of Ukraine, which is now in its 11th month.
